Background: The European Region has the lowest rate of exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months worldwide. Improving work-related breastfeeding issues is important given that women may have difficulties combining work and breastfeeding, especially those in precarious working situations, which adds to their adversity. This scoping review overviews research on the maternal employment characteristics that support breastfeeding continuation after return to work in the European Region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Telework was massively adopted during the COVID-19 crisis. Related changes in working conditions may have affected women's and men's health differently due to the gendered division of work. Our study aimed to assess the gendered association of telework with physical and mental health outcomes one year after the onset of the pandemic and to determine whether the pathways of working conditions underlying these associations are gender-related.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aims to ascertain occupations potentially at greatest risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 based on pre-lockdown working conditions in France. We combined two French population-based surveys documenting workplace exposures to infectious agents, face-to-face contact with the public, and working with colleagues just before the pandemic. Then, for each 87-level standard French occupational grouping, we estimated the number and percentage of the French working population reporting these occupational exposure factors, by gender, using survey weights.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aims to describe the socio-demographic profile of so-called "key workers" during the first lockdown in France and to assess their potential occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 under routine, pre-pandemic working conditions. We used the French list of essential jobs that was issued during the first lockdown to identify three subgroups of key workers (hospital healthcare, non-hospital healthcare, non-healthcare). Based on the population-based "Conditions de travail-2019" survey, we described the socio-demographic composition of key workers and their potential work-related exposures (to "infectious agents," "face-to-face contact with the public," and "working with colleagues") using modified Poisson regression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We aimed to study whether social patterns of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infection changed in France throughout the year 2020, in light to the easing of social contact restrictions.
Methods: A population-based cohort of individuals aged 15 years or over was randomly selected from the national tax register to collect socio-economic data, migration history, and living conditions in May and November 2020. Home self-sampling on dried blood was proposed to a 10% random subsample in May and to all in November.
Breathe (Sheff)
December 2021
What proportion of the risk in a given population is attributable to a risk factor? The population attributable fraction (PAF) answers this question. "Attributable to" is understood as "due to", which makes PAFs closely related to the concept of potential impact or potential benefits of reducing the exposure. The PAF is a tool at the border between science and decision making.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article analyzes the consequences of the increasing reference to scientific expertise in the decision and implementation process of occupational health policy. Based on examples (exposure limits and attributable fractions) taken from an interdisciplinary seminar conducted in 2014 to 2015 in France, it shows how the measurement or regulation of a problem through biomedicine-based tools produces blind spots. It also uses a case study to show the contradictions between scientific and academic aims and public health intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is a dearth of evidence on what should be the optimal criteria for discharging children from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) treatment. Programs discharging children while they are still presenting varying levels of weight-for-height (WHZ) or mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) deficits, such as those implemented under the current national protocol in Nepal, are opportunities to fill this evidence gap.
Methods: We followed a cohort of children discharged as cured from SAM treatment in Parasi district, Nepal.
Studies assessing socio-economic disparities in air pollution exposure and susceptibility are usually based on a single air pollution model. A time stratified case-crossover study was designed to assess the impact of the type of model on differential exposure and on the differential susceptibility in the relationship between ozone exposure and daily mortality by socio-economic strata (SES) in Montreal. Non-accidental deaths along with deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory causes on the island of Montreal for the period 1991-2002 were included as cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In occupational epidemiology, a male-centered perspective often predominates. We aimed to describe current research practices in terms of gender consideration at different stages of epidemiological studies.
Methods: A systematic review of occupational lung cancer publications indexed in PubMed was conducted over the period 2003-2014.
Complex exposure situations are frequent at the workplace, but few studies have characterized multiple occupational carcinogenic exposures (MOCE) and their gendered differences across jobs' characteristics. We assessed MOCE separately in male and female jobs and identified patterns of MOCE at job level. Participants (834 men and 183 women) were cancer patients recruited between March 2002 and December 2010 in the ongoing SCOP93 cohort study, Seine-Saint-Denis department, France.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To analyze the associations between marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and blood pressure (BP), resting heart rate (HR), and heart rate variability (HRV) in a population highly exposed to methylmercury through the diet.
Methods: Concentrations of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in erythrocytes membranes were measured in 180 French Polynesian adults (≥18 years) residing in Tubuai, which is a community with a traditional lifestyle, or Papeete, which has a modern lifestyle. HRV was measured using a 2-hour ambulatory electrocardiogram (Holter).
Following our results, based on population studies conducted in Greenland and Northern Canada, that Nunavik Inuit were thrice as highly exposed to dietary trans-fat as were Greenlandic Inuit, and that the biological levels found in Nunavik were already associated with deleterious blood lipid profiles, we decided to engage in translational activities. Our goal was to support Inuit communities in the practical implementation of a reduction of the trans-fat content of food sold in Nunavik. We carried out a preliminary feasibility study in Kuujjuaq and participated in several meetings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate subclinical atherosclerosis in Nunavik Inuit and its correlation to traditional cardiovascular disease risk factor.
Method: The intima-media thickness (IMT) of 12 segments of the carotid arteries (IMT(12_seg)) free of plaque were assessed in randomly selected 40 years old and older Inuit from. Clinical assessment was performed which included fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin, systemic blood pressure, body mass index, smoking, circulating blood lipids and oral glucose tolerance test.
Background: Populations which diet is rich in seafood are highly exposed to contaminants such as mercury, which could affect cardiovascular risk factors
Objective: To assess the associations between mercury and blood pressure (BP), resting heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV) among French Polynesians
Methods: Data were collected among 180 adults (≥ 18 years) and 101 teenagers (12-17 years). HRV was measured using a two-hour ambulatory electrocardiogram (Holter) and BP was measured using a standardized protocol. The association between mercury and HRV and BP parameters was studied using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) RESULTS: Among teenagers, the high frequency (HF) decreased between the 2nd and 3rd tertile (380 vs.
Objective: Higher dairy product intake has shown beneficial effects on body weight, blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in Caucasian populations. This study evaluated dairy product intake and its association with body weight and CVD risk profile among a population undergoing a dietary transition in Canada, the Nunavik Inuit.
Methods: Data were collected from August 27 to October 1, 2004, in the 14 villages of Nunavik on a Canadian research icebreaker (Canadian Coast Guard ship Amundsen).
Objectives: Because of their recent adoption of a Westernized lifestyle, an increased risk of developing hypertension (HTN) is suspected among Inuit populations. This study aimed to assess the exact prevalence of HTN in Nunavik Inuit and to examine its association with other major risk factors of cardiovascular disease.
Study Design: A cross-sectional population-based study.
Background: The Inuit are commonly portrayed to be somehow protected from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) through their traditional lifestyle and diet. However, actual sociocultural transition and related major, modifiable risk factors have scarcely been quantified in the Inuit population. Such knowledge is extremely valuable in terms of public health intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDietary exposure to trans-fatty acids (TFA) is likely to be high among Canadian Inuit; yet no data are available on the physiological effects of TFA in this population. The purpose of the present study was to assess the association between TFA and plasma lipid profiles in Inuit men and women living in Nunavik (Québec, Canada). In a cross-sectional, population-based survey, a total of 795 Nunavik Inuit eligible participants gave a blood sample.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs part of the rapid socio-cultural transition observed in Arctic populations, the Inuit diet is changing. We present original data derived from the baseline Inuit Health in Transition cohort study regarding biological levels of n-3 fatty acids and trans-fatty acids (TFA), lipids with opposite health effects found respectively in traditional marine diets and recently introduced low-quality imported foods. A total of 524 Inuit from the Disko Bay area (Greenland) and 888 Inuit from the fourteen communities of Northern Québec (Nunavik) participated in the study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Reliable information about the burden of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is still scarce in the developing world.
Study Design: Observational study of a national dialysis registry.
Setting & Participants: Patients incident to dialysis therapy captured in the Tunisian registry of renal replacement therapy (RRT).